
Second time through, this time as an audiobook. This is the third King book I ever read, and it’s been many years. I was amazed, going back, at the sheer power of the descriptions and the joy King found just scaring the crap out of everyone… wallowing in the horror, laying it on with no sense of restraint at all. The interior monologues border on hysteria a lot of the time. Arnie’s near POSSESSION by an evil spirit (and a 20-year-old Plymouth Fury) is brilliantly drawn. But the things that most impress me are the friendship with Dennis (as told by Dennis), the hot, willing, teenage sexiness of Leigh, and the wisdom about parents and teens and life that are expressed so often in the meditations and dialogue of all the characters. There are incredible scenes that just won’t leave me. I still haven’t gotten over Christine fighting her way through that blizzard on her deadly mission, or the closing confrontation that could have been a model for all Hollywood mega battles to come. I should mention the quality of the narration in the audiobook; it is absolutely pitch perfect. If you like audiobooks and haven’t heard this one… GET IT. I owned a Plymouth Fury once… not as old as Christine… but I know how seductive they can be. Tragically so many of those great old cars were destroyed in the making of a movie that just couldn’t measure up to the book. All in all, a great experience though, except, of course, for that last 3-word phrase written by Leigh on the back of a postcard showing a picture of the new Taos center for the performing arts. That really pissed me off.